Written by

Bill Cotterell
The News-Press Florida Media

Government employees would be trained to comply with Florida's public-records laws, and citizens asking to see official documents usually would not have to put their requests in writing, under a package of changes approved Thursday by a Senate committee.

"These are a lot of very good reforms that we're excited about," said Barbara Petersen, the long-time lobbyist for the First Amendment Foundation, after the quick and unanimous approval of a package by the Senate Government Operations Committee.

The panel struck from the plan a provision that would have allowed people to request public ...